Despite credentials as a best-selling author and more than three decades of industry experience, Christian retailer Michael Phillips recently closed up shop.

Phillips' One Way Book Shop in Eureka, Calif., located about 280 miles north of San Francisco, was the final store in an operation that once numbered half a dozen outlets.

However, he and his wife will continue a scaled-down version of their business through mail order and special orders for long-time customers.

In a customer newsletter announcing the decision, he said the store had steadily lost the support of area churches.

"The awareness of local ministry had largely vanished. Every church had its own little outlet source for books and supplies. We were no longer working with pastors and churches, nor they with us. … The regional church as a whole no longer needed or depended on One Way as it once had."

Look for a full story on the author who has sold 5.7 million books in the Aug. 23 edition of Christian Retailing.

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